Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2026: About Last Night

Packing for Burning Man, or perhaps a summer jaunt to Mars?

Duran Lantink has you covered with a Jean Paul Gaultier debut filled with futuristic pneumatic silhouettes that seemed right out of a sci-fi fever dream — or whatever happened in the antechamber to his show in the bowels of the Musée du Quai Branly, with its long bar strewn with empty Champagne glasses, bottles of spirits and items left behind.

The show opened with a silhouette that looked like the love child of Gaultier’s famous cone bra and the Dutch designer’s bumper silhouettes. Then came futuristic bodysuits cut high on the leg; gowns that seemed to defy gravity by covering only the breasts and hips on the front; a midriff-baring bisected trenchcoat, and a plethora trompe-l’oeil tops and leggings. Some depicted hairy bodies, cartoonish organs or with tattoos printed in 3D on their surface. Others were emblazoned with the Junior Gaultier label after which Lantink named his debut offering.

At a preview, he told WWD he’d eschewed diving into the archives, instead “creating fantasy of all these memories I have from Gaultier and twisted them into how I think it would look today.”

Thrown in the mix was a book he’d discovered as a rave-obsessed kid — Dutch photographer Cleo Campert’s “Het RoXY Archief, 1988–1999,” which chronicled the now-defunct legendary Amsterdam club.

Between the freedom he felt in the images, which featured many partygoers wearing the Junior Gaultier line, it had him thinking about how people transform for night life, “not necessarily something that you would see in the street.”

It was certainly hard to imagine much of the spring lineup out and about but pieces with potential were dotted throughout. Among them were those aforementioned printed tops and leggings, jackets with hems curling up in a nod to sailor hats, long gowns and trousers with curviliear waistbands. Accessories, which included sunglasses with lenses that seemed to float away from the face, were also striking.

Lantink has just slipped into the Breton top of the house’s namesake designer. Some adjustments are to be expected.